Personal Column: Life of a German exchange student

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My name is Felix, and I am one of the German exchange students this year at Tomball High School. For me it will be, and has been, a great experience to spend a whole school year in an American high school.

I’ve never been to America before, so it was my first time seeing an American high school. It’s so different compared to Germany.

In Germany, the school is not that big and not as fun as it is here. For example, I saw a dance battle going on during lunch, which was awesome! In Germany that would never happen.

But that’s not the only difference I noticed about German and American school. The school system is very different. In Germany you can’t choose your classes, just a few and only in 11th and 12th grade. We only have major grades in Germany, there are no daily grades. But I like that there are daily grades here in America. It’s a good chance to pull your grade up.

Also, in Germany you have a different schedule for each day, so you have more and different classes. As well as the fact that the teachers move classes each period, not the students.

My trip to get here was great! At the beginning it was very hot for me, because it’s a lot colder in Germany. But I got used to it. I came here the last week of summer, so I had a bit of time to get prepared for school.

I soon found out that there would be something called “Homecoming” in the first few weeks of school. I had never heard of that, and I was excited to go to my first American football game, and of course I was excited to go to the dance as well. It was awesome and I had a lot of fun with my date and my friends.

It was also great for me to join the basketball team at school. The sports system is different in Germany as well. There are no sports clubs at the school in Germany, so if you play sports, you are playing for the city, not for the school. But I like playing basketball in and for the school way more. Now I have practice every day and that’s very good to improve myself.

I hope this is going to be a great school year for me, so that I will make good experiences in my exchange year. Also I want to improve my English skills, but I think this won’t be a problem while I am living in America.

I’m looking forward for a great exchange year and I hope everything goes as well as it has so far.